Apr. 18, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Washington Staff

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Carl Levin said this morning that a suspicious letter received at his Saginaw office on Wednesday has tested negative for harmful agents.

Levin’s office in Saginaw was evacuated Wednesday after a staff member there received a letter he or she considered suspicious. It occurred after letters that tested postive in preliminary exams for the poison ricin were sent to the the White House and a Mississippi senator.

Those letters were received at an off-site mail handling facilities and never reached their destinations. It was not immediately known what made the letter received in Saginaw seem susipicious, though, like the others, it did not have a return address.

Levin put out a statement this morning saying the FBI advised him that testing done by the Michigan Department of Community Health in Lansing “showed negative results” and that the office was “open as usual” this morning.

The FBI would not immediately say what the letter had been tested for, but it was presumably tested for ricin, given that positive results on the letters in Washington is what led to the staffer in Saginaw considering the letter suspicious.